The short answer

Yes, they will absolutely try to pin this on you.

And in Arkansas, that matters because of modified comparative fault. If they can convince a jury you were 50% or more to blame, you recover nothing. If they keep your share below 50%, your compensation gets reduced by that percentage.

So when a box truck swings wide at an intersection in Little Rock and clips you, the fight usually turns into two ugly arguments at once: first, that you caused or helped cause the crash, and second, that your worst injury was "already there."

That second one is where a lot of people get buried.

Wide right turns are chaos, and drivers know it

This kind of wreck happens all over Little Rock, especially where delivery trucks push through tight city intersections near Cantrell, University, Markham, Broadway, and downtown medical routes around UAMS and Baptist.

A box truck driver making a wide right turn may drift left first, then cut hard right. If you're walking, driving beside the truck, or even crossing with the light, that move can trap you fast. Home health aides are especially exposed because they spend the day bouncing from client to client, often on packed streets, apartment complexes, and older neighborhoods with rough intersections and limited visibility.

The driver's insurer may say you were in the blind spot, crossed too late, moved too fast, ignored a signal, or should have anticipated the turn.

That's the shared-fault setup.

Arkansas doesn't require you to be perfect

Here's what matters: the truck driver still had a duty to make that turn safely.

A commercial driver on city streets in Pulaski County is supposed to watch the lane, control the turn, yield where required, and avoid running over people just because the truck needs extra space. "Wide turn" is not a magic excuse. It's a known maneuver with known risks.

If the driver cut the corner, failed to check mirrors, rolled through a crosswalk, or turned when it wasn't clear, that's real evidence of fault.

But the insurance adjuster will keep steering the conversation back to your body.

"Preexisting" doesn't mean "not caused by the crash"

This is the part that makes people furious, and for good reason.

A lot of adults already have some disc degeneration or back issues on paper, especially people doing physically demanding work. Home health aides lift patients, help with transfers, carry supplies, climb apartment stairs, and spend long days getting in and out of cars. An MRI after the crash may show wear that existed before the truck hit you.

The insurer loves that.

They'll act like any prior back pain, old urgent-care visit, or note about sciatica means the herniated disc has nothing to do with this wreck. That is not the whole story.

Arkansas law does not give the defense a free pass just because you were not in perfect condition before the crash. If the collision aggravated, lit up, or worsened a dormant or manageable condition, that damage can still be tied to the crash. A person can walk around with degeneration for years and then end up with disabling pain, numbness, weakness, or surgery only after getting slammed by a truck.

That difference matters.

The adjuster is looking for gaps

What they want is a messy timeline.

If you kept working because you had to pay rent. If you waited a week before seeing a doctor. If you told the ER your "back was sore" before the leg numbness started. If you had old lifting injuries from caregiving work. If your chart mentions a prior strain from moving a client.

That's the ammo.

The strongest evidence usually looks boring:

• records showing what symptoms started after the crash, when they got worse, and whether you had the same limits before
• imaging and doctor notes connecting the impact to a new herniation or an aggravation of an old condition
• proof that the truck's turn actually caused a violent twisting, fall, or impact
• work records showing you were functioning before and could not do the job after

If your pain shoots down one leg after the wreck, your hand goes numb, or you suddenly can't lift, bend, drive, or transfer patients the way you could before, that change is the point.

If you're undocumented, fear is part of the pressure campaign

This is where it gets especially dirty.

A lot of immigrant workers in Little Rock, whether they're in home care, kitchens, roofing, poultry routes tied to Springdale and northwest Arkansas, or warehouse work feeding the I-40 freight corridor, get told the same thing: stay quiet, don't make a claim, don't talk to anyone, don't cause problems.

Sometimes it comes from a contractor. Sometimes from an employer. Sometimes just from the adjuster's tone.

A traffic injury claim is about fault, injuries, insurance, and money. It is not some automatic deportation switch because you were hurt by a negligent driver at an intersection. The other side benefits when you panic and disappear.

And disappearing is exactly how a "preexisting disc" argument wins. Because if you stop treatment, miss follow-up imaging, or let collections start swallowing you whole, the insurer gets to say your condition was minor, unrelated, or never clearly tied to the truck in the first place.